Breathing is Essential and Effective!

Author: Dr. Jennifer Fee

Back in October I wrote about the power of using abdominal breathing for lowering anxiety (See Don’t Dismiss the Value of Breathing) Since then, I’ve seen some claims on the internet claim that abdominal breathing is “just a distraction,” and doesn’t “cure” the problem of panic. My first reaction to that statement was, “Well I’d like to introduce you to Joe, Susan, Andria, Mike, Amy, Teresa, Jimmy, etc, etc……..”* meaning all of the people that I have known over the years who have used successfully abdominal breathing to lower their anxiety level (see 3 Critical Reasons for Rating your Anxiety).

Dr. Daniel Amen, a brain imaging expert, describes the benefits of abdominal breathing in his book, Healing Anxiety and Depression. He states that by breathing from the abdomen you are calming the basal ganglia, a part of the brain that controls anxiety! He goes on to state that abdominal breathing can help regulate the rhythm of our hearts.

Here is a video I made to help you learn how to do abdominal breathing properly:

Have you tried it? How has it worked for you?

Jennifer L. Fee, Psy.D.

(562)760-2743

**The people are real, the names are made up!